From Space of Mind to Clutter Cutter
There is nothing better than to be surrounded by friends who champion and challenge you. No words can describe how thankful I am for the four incredibly creative moms who turned up on that Sunday of March 20, and the two others who couldn’t make it that day. All of them listened to me as I walked them through what it took to dare think launch my professional organizing company. And they all showed up to help me find a name for it.
I explained how I wanted to, and I quote “help people find a work life balance as more of us are now working from home, by helping organize & declutter space and mind, coach with time management and prioritization.” I shared with them the words that spoke to me at that time: Tailor, harmonize, shape, frame, create, space. Nothing was set in stone, it was the start of a journey.
One friend pulled a white board app on my computer and started putting up post-it for every word uttered.
From there, loads of questions followed. Why would someone hire a professional organizer? Shouldn’t people already know how to declutter and organize? How would I address shame, guild, embarrassment? Well, we hire an accountant to do our taxes, a cleaning person to clean our home, landscapers to mow the lawn, use Instacart to deliver our groceries, a physical trainer to get in shape, etc. Hiring a professional organizer is not that different from any other service in that it is a service and it is meant to help make life easier. Also no one is supposed to know how to do everything. There is no shame in asking for help. It’s actually an act of bravery.
As I am revisiting that day, the one thing that amazes me is that no one questioned my being qualified to do the job. I am that one friend who owns a label maker after all.
Kidding aside, this one hour session was very productive, leaving me with a lot of food for thought, reinforcing my desire to embrace imperfection, and keep moving forward, and some ideas for a company name. My friend Leila had come up with “Space of Mind” which resonated so much in me. I could visualize what brought me inner peace: a clear space for a clear mind. So we all agreed my tagline had to be “Clear Space. Clear Mind.” Other company names that made the list were “Space Maker”, “Cut the crap” and “Clutter Knife”.
Two days later, I met another creative mom for a coffee and showed her the list. She noticed the heart next to “Clutter Knife” and wrote next to it “Clutter Cutter”. I loved it! I got home, checked it was available on www.uspto.gov for my category of business, went to Squarespace and registered 3 domains. The following day, Wednesday March 23, I registered my company as an LLC and “Clutter Cutter, LLC” was born.
To friendship.